Tag Archives: Virgil Finlay

Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[September 14, 1967] Stuck in the Past (October 1967 Galaxy)

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by Gideon Marcus

The deuce, you say!

The other day, a BNF opined that I was kind of a sourpuss, not really liking anything I reviewed.  Moreover, he contended that my perspective is irretrievably tainted, and that I cannot appreciate fiction of the '60s with an objective eye.  Indeed, sometimes it seems like I don't like '60s science fiction much at all.

Well, he's right.

Sort of.  The thing is, I sometimes don't like the science fiction of the '60s…at least, not as consistently as I enjoyed the science fiction of the 1950s.

Perhaps it is a subjective thing.  After all, what can contend with the thrill I felt opening up my first issue of Galaxy (way back in Fall 1950!) and being bowled over by this new magazine's quality.  I had dabbled in SF before, but the age of the digest, what I like to term “The Silver Age” (if Campbell's Astounding heyday was “The Golden Age”) really sold the genre to me.

What a rush that first half decade was.  The efflorescence of magazines (at one point, there were forty SFF periodicals in print), the wide range of subjects.  Sure, there was a lot of crap.  After all, 90% of everything is crap.  But there was so much science fiction in the mags that if you stuck to the cream, you could be assured of month after month of nothing but quality readings.

And there were women.  After a swell in feminine participation in the 'zines of the late '40s and early '50s, there was a subsequent surge in women writing in the mid '50s—most notably in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, but lots of other mags, too.  SF has never been so eclectic.

What have we got these days?  Well, the paperback is putting paid to the mags, which means (as Spinrad noted recently) short form is drying up.  Paperback anthologies might remedy that situation someday, but they haven't yet.

As for the magazines, there are just six English-language ones left, two of them mostly reprints and one, Galaxy, a bimonthly since 1959.  You'd think with so many fewer slots for stories, the fiction would be better.  That turns out not to be the case.  I think the really good writers are saving their typing fingers for the sure bucks—the novels and the screenplays.  Or, at least their good stuff.

Case in point: this month's Galaxy.  It's got some big names, but is this the best they can offer what was once scientifiction's premier magazine?


by Gray Morrow, illustrating Transmogrification

A long slog

Damnation Alley, Roger Zelazny

About half of the mag is taken up with Zelazny's novella, Damnation Alley, about a trip across war-savaged America sometime in the near future.  Hell Tanner is a hellraiser, a criminal, a motorcycle enthusiast…and the best driver in the Western Hemisphere.  On the way to the Big House, he's offered a deal: take a vital shipment of drugs across the country from San Diego to Boston in an armored car; in return, he gets a full pardon.

Hell takes the deal, leading a three-car convoy into “damnation alley”, a scenic tour of blighted USA.  We're treated to violent storms that drop frogs and sharks from hundreds of miles away, giant mutant Gila lizards, radiated hellscapes, bandits, marauding biker gangs, and the occasional stretch of considerate humanity.  Now that I write this, it occurs to me it might make a pretty movie, at least of the B Class.


by Jack Gaughan

But B Class is all it would be.  Zelazny has written some of this field's best work recently, garnering well-deserved Hugo nominations and wins.  But Alley is lesser Zelazny, a mildly engaging but prosaic trip across a wild world.  Several times, I found my eyes unfocusing and a voice in the back of my mind muttering, “Why do I care?” The story doesn't say anything, feature anyone particularly interesting, nor really justify the Roger Corman monstrosities Tanner encounters.  What's left is competent writing.  It's not enough.

Three stars.

Poulfinch's Mythology, Poul Anderson


by Virgil Finlay

I always enjoy the conceit of aliens or far-future anthropologists examining current culture (and often coming to ridiculous conclusions).  One of my favorite examples was Horace Coon's 43,000 AD, where three alien archaeologists try to make sense of pre-nuclear America.

Poul Anderson, aided by the exquisite Virgil Finlay, has taken another stab at things, reducing the principal values of mid-century United States (at least as Anderson sees them) to a pantheon of idealized beings.

Some of the entries are funny, but I feel Anderson is going beyond satire to sell his own spin on America, one I'm not entirely on board with.  In particular, I can't agree with his unalloyed exaltation of “Keen”, God of Money, nor his lumping of the Klan with civil rights marchers in the form of “Brothergood” (whom he asserts “raped” Lady Liberty repeatedly).

Two or three stars, depending on your tastes.

For Your Information: The Worst of All Comets, Willy Ley

Ley's science article, on comets, is serviceable.  It's been a long time since his column has been the highlight of the magazine, though, as it was in the earlier part of the 1950s.

Three stars.

The Transmogrification of Wamba's Revenge, H. L. Gold


by Gray Morrow

How's this for a throwback?  H.L. Gold was Galaxy's first editor, helming the magazine through its first, most glorious decade.  But he started as a writer, and now he's back with this strange novelette.  Told from the viewpoint of an African “Pigmy” princess, it involves a western scientist, his treacherous wife, and an unscrupulous big game hunter.  When the hunter and wife start an amorous liaison, Princess Wamba mickeys them with a shrinking potion, reducing them to one tenth their normal size.

The scientist sees Nobel Prize written all over this development, and he undertakes a study of the Pigmy invention, which shrinks all animals except for Pigmies themselves.  Mildly droll high jinks ensue, followed by a surprisingly happy ending.

Very slight stuff, probably better suited for F&SF, but I appreciated the heroine and the sentiment, if not the science.

Three stars.

Understanding, George O. Smith


by R. Dorfman

Every so often, a story comes along with nothing overtly wrong with it, yet with such a profound soporific effect that multiple sessions are required.  Such is the case with this novelette, about an adolescent trapped in an alien city, being herded by the city government toward an unknown destination for an unknown purpose.  Only the appearance of an intelligent, talking dog named Beauregarde may prove an unanticipated wrinkle in their plans.

It's forty pages, and it induced four naps.  'Nuph said.  Two stars.

A Galaxy of Fashion, Frederik Pohl and Carol Pohl

Those who went to Nycon 3 or last year's Tricon were treated to Carol Pohl's “Galaxy of Fashion” at the annual costume ball.  For those who couldn't attend, here's an accompanying set of illustrations.  It's hard to imagine these styles catching on or being at all practical, but who knows?  Maybe mismatched pantleg length will be all the rage in a century.

Galaxy Bookshelf, Algis Budrys

Capping out the issue, the always literate Algis talks about the New Wave.  He notes that there is plenty good stuff coming out now, and it's not your grandpa's (or at least your father's) science fiction.  In particular, he praises the quartet of Aldiss, Ballard, Zelazny, and Delany.  He describes Aldiss as “the least talented” and Ballard “the least intelligent”, saving most of his praise for Delany, who he calls “less disciplined than Ellison”.

I suppose that's the price we pay, right?  The old scene is dead, and what's left is folks either picking its bones or forging something completely new.  The new stuff isn't always a success (I have no real use for Ballard), but it often is.  I guess the real problem is there just isn't enough being produced right now.  In the old days, you could skip the dross and still have plenty to read all the time.  Nowadays, there's only enough to read including the dross.

Which is why my articles haven't been quite so glowing lately.  Sorry about that.  It'd help if other people didn't always get the Delany stories…

But I still love what I do, and I still often love what I read.  Really.  Certainly, our Galactic Stars, our annual list of the year's best SF, are a testament to that.  Also, women seem to be coming back, to the benefit of our genre.  And if we leave the printed word, well, I've been unreserved in my adoration for Star Trek, what Campbell calls “the first adult science fiction show on television.”

So, my dear BNF friend, please understand that if I sometimes appear grumpy or overly critical of this genre we both love, it's because I have to sift through the kaka to get to the rose. And hey, it's not just me: Ted White, Joanna Russ, Algis Budrys, Judy Merril…they all have their grumpy days too, for the same reason.

Nevertheless, of course I still find gems, and I'm always delighted when I do.  And if you want more cheerful news that'll bring more folks to our field, well, tune in to the Galactic Stars.  I guarantee that slew of greatness will be a tonic for any doldrums!

Speaking of Star Trek, the new season starts TOMORROW!  Hope you'll join us, tiger…

Here's the invitation!



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Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Serial

[September 2, 1967] Of Genies and Bottles (October 1967 IF)

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by David Levinson

The radiant genie

They say that, once you let the genie out of the bottle, it can be very hard to get him back in. Twenty-two years ago, we unleashed the genie of atomic warfare, and it has loomed ominously over humanity ever since. Most of us remember the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis just five years ago (though it seems both farther in the past and more recent) and probably still feel a little uneasy whenever a warning siren goes off. Current predictions estimate as many as 25-30 nuclear-armed countries within 20 years.

William C. Foster, the chief American representative to the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament.

Is this an inevitability? Perhaps not. In 1960, the Ten Nation Committee on Disarmament, composed of five Western and five Eastern countries, met briefly in the spring and early summer, but adjourned indefinitely in the face of the U-2 incident and the collapse of the planned Paris summit. Toward the end of the following year, the U. N. created the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, composed of the original ten countries and another eight non-aligned nations, which has been meeting regularly in Geneva since March of 1962. On August 11th, William C. Foster, the chief American representative on the committee, announced that the United States and the Soviet Union have agreed in principle on the terms of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The two nations submitted identical drafts to the U. N. on the 24th. These will (hopefully) form the basis of a treaty to be voted on by the General Assembly, that will at least rein in the genie.

A bottle of jinn

There are a couple of metaphorical genies out of the bottle in this month’s IF, not to mention all the demons of Hell. Let’s pop the cork.

The art is intriguing, but none of this happens in Hal Clement’s new novel. Art by Castellon

Ocean on Top (Part 1 of 3), by Hal Clement

Our unnamed narrator (he hates his name and won’t say what it is) is an investigator for the Power Board looking into the disappearance of three other investigators near Easter Island. Stealthily sinking to the bottom of the sea, he discovers lights shining on the sea floor – a massive and criminal waste of power – and what seems to be an entire settlement of people. After being found out, he nearly escapes, but is ultimately captured and brought into the base. There he is astonished as he observes his captors removing their helmets, regardless of not only the tremendous pressure, but also the fact that they are still in a watery environment. To be continued.

These underwater criminals ought to be crushed before they have the chance to drown. Art by Castellon

Since this is Hal Clement, there’s undoubtedly some scientific principle at work, but this is otherwise an unusual story for him. This first installment is almost all action (albeit in slow motion, as befits the underwater setting) and has a much darker tone than he usually uses. At this point, we’re left mostly with questions.

Three stars.

Conqueror, by Larry Eisenberg

Joe is a member of the occupying forces on an alien planet. Command keeps careful control on soldiers’ access to booze and sex in order to maintain peaceful relations with the locals, and Joe is getting desperate for the latter. He’s not willing to use one of the androids the natives use, and local women willing to offer themselves to the occupiers are few and far between. So when he runs into a woman willing to go with him in exchange for food, he jumps at the chance.

Eisenberg’s output has been fairly hit or miss thus far. This tale doesn’t quite have the punch he’d like it to have, but it’s reasonably well done and has a sting in its tail.

A high three stars.

Fans Down Under, by Lin Carter

Science fiction fandom isn’t just an American phenomenon, so Our Man in Fandom has decided to take a world tour. First stop is Australia, which seems to be a real hotbed of SF activity, with Melbourne the apparent center. Despite its name, the Australian Science Fiction Review is not a serious, literary fanzine, but one that looks at SF as entertainment and offers lively criticism that pulls no punches. Meanwhile, the Melbourne Science Fiction Club has come up with the idea of holding regular screenings of SF movies and also maintains a lending library. I imagine both are the consequence of the difficulty of finding SF from the rest of the world.

Three stars.

Enemy of the Silkies, by A. E. van Vogt

Silkies were thought to be genetically engineered humans capable of living underwater and in space as easily as on land. In the last story, it was revealed that they are actually aliens, and at the end the Earth was orbiting a giant sun along with thousands of other worlds. When contact is made with the ancient enemies of the Silkies, it is once again up to Nat Cemp to solve the problems of his people and planet.The Nijjan and Silkies are ancient enemies. Art by Gaughan

All three Silkie stories follow the same pattern: Nat encounters an alien threat, learns a new mental ability from the alien, and uses it to defeat the enemy. If you liked the others, you’ll probably like this one.

Barely three stars.

The Food of Mars, by Max H. Flindt

There may be lichen on Mars. Some lichens are edible. Therefore, astronauts who go to Mars will be able to eat lichen.

Never have I seen so many errors of fact in a science article, not even in an Analog article on the Dean drive or using astrology to predict the weather. The author begins with the assertion that there are obviously artificial canals on Mars, thus the areas of color change sometimes observed there must be lichen. This was written before the Mariner photos came out, but even then the idea of Martian canals was a dying, minority opinion. He then discusses lichen in the diets of some human populations (true) and details his own experiences eating Spanish Moss (not a lichen) and Ear of the Wood and Ear of the Rock bought in Chinatown (both are mushrooms).

One star.

Winter of the Llangs, by C. C. MacApp

Chimmuh is an adolescent krote whose herd has been caught in their summering place by early snows. The elderly and weak will be left behind, likely to fall prey to the vicious llangs. As tradition demands, he will remain with his mother, who will deliver a new calf soon. His ingenuity finds the group a place to camp that is easily defended against the llangs, and with luck they can hold out until the return of a hunting party under the command of his father. But that party might pass them by unaware, so it is up to Chimmuh to venture out alone to try to make contact.

Chimmuh fights a pair of llangs. Art by Virgil Finlay

This is a fine little adventure story. Not exceptional, but a decent read. This is the kind of thing MacApp can do right.

Three stars.

Mu Panther, by Donald J. Walsh

A century or so after a couple of major nuclear power plant accidents resulted in mutant predators roaming the American west, Barry Everett and his partners are hired to track down a panther that’s raiding a large ranch in Wyoming. At over 35 feet from nose to tail, this wily creature will demand all their skill and perfect coordination.

This is a standard big game adventure tale – complete with rich idiot who refuses to listen to the experts – all with a science fiction spin. It’s fairly well-written for a freshman effort, even if it’s nothing special.

Three stars.

Faust Aleph-Null (Part 3 of 3), by James Blish

Arms-dealer Baines has hired the black sorcerer Theron Ware to grant a number of high-ranking demons free reign upon the Earth for 24 hours. It goes about as well as you might expect.

Baphomet drops by for some exposition. Art by Gray Morrow

James Blish appears to have been possessed by Philip José Farmer. There’s an interesting story here, but it comes to an unsatisfying and abrupt halt. The story’s end should be the end of the second act. Worse, there’s, at most, enough here for a novelette. Much of the previous installments had subplots and character introductions that serve no purpose to the story. This time, a full page is given to rattling off the names of several white monks, who are just inserts of various science fiction authors (my favorite: Fr. Anson, “a brusque engineer-type who specialized in unclouding the minds of politicians”–note that the "A" in Robert A. Heinlein stands for "Anson"). Six pages are dedicated to the summoning, five of them just for the names and descriptions of several of the demons. This isn’t a story, it’s Blish showing off his research. Much like I said last month, interesting but not necessary. And then everything hits a brick wall and just stops.

Barely three stars for this part and only two for the whole (which is less than the sum of its parts).

Summing up

Another march down the path of mediocrity. There’s some decent stuff here, and some that could be better. Particularly the Blish. It’s a decent setting without the gem it needs. I’ve been saying I’d settle for something really bad, and I certainly got it with the “fact” article. I should be careful what I wish for. As it is, I’d be happy if, for once, I can say more than Señor Wences’ Pedro. “’S all right.”

At least a new Berserker story sounds promising.




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Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Serial

[August 2, 1967] The Bounds of Good Taste (September 1967 IF)

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by David Levinson

A diplomatic incident

In the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ended the Seven Years War, France abandoned her claims to territory in what is today Canada (among others) in order to keep richer colonies in the Caribbean. Britain allowed her new subjects in Quebec to keep their language and religion, likely to keep them from making common cause with the fractious colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. Since then, there has been a strong undercurrent of nationalism among the French-speaking Québécois. Enter French President Charles de Gaulle.

Canada has extended an open invitation to representatives of countries exhibiting at the Expo 67 world’s fair. Last month, de Gaulle came to visit. The Canadian government was a little concerned. France hadn’t sent a representative to the funeral of Governor General Georges Vanier, who had been a personal friend of de Gaulle, or to the 50th anniversary ceremonies commemorating the Canadian victory at Vimy in the Great War. Rather than flying in to the Canadian capital Ottawa, de Gaulle arrived directly in Quebec City aboard a French naval vessel and went on to Montreal from there, with crowds cheering him along the way. He arrived on July 24th, and delivered an unscheduled speech from the balcony of the Montreal City Hall. He concluded by shouting “Vive le Québec libre!” (“Long live free Québec!”) and the crowd roared in approval.

President de Gaulle with foot firmly in mouth.

The next day, Prime Minister Lester Pearson issued an official rebuke, declaring that “Canadians do not need to be liberated” and pointing out that many Canadians died in the liberation of France. Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau wondered what the French reaction would be to the Canadian Prime Minister shouting “Brittany to the Bretons!” Even the French papers were critical. Meanwhile, de Gaulle visited the Expo and hosted a banquet at the French pavilion. The following day, he boarded a French military jet and flew home rather than making his scheduled visit to Ottawa. Whether this was deliberate interference in another country’s domestic affairs or just de Gaulle being de Gaulle, we’ll have to wait to see what the fallout may be.

Walking the line

Apropos of today's lede, at least one story in this month’s IF is about crossing or challenging the lines of what is in good taste. A couple more do that themselves.

This alien dude ranch has become a popular honeymoon spot. Art by Gray Morrow

The Fortunes of Peace, by C. C. MacApp

“Taintless” Wend, Earthborn but now stateless, is a trader operating just past the edge of human space. He’s been captured by the Kyshan pirate Junnabl, who has a plan to get his hands on an abandoned Terran Space Force cache. Wend doesn’t expect Junnabl to let him go with his share, but he has a few connections that might help.

Wend is in trouble, but ready for Junnabl’s men. Art by Virgil Finlay

When he’s not writing about Gree or trying to be funny, MacApp is a decent writer. This is basically an adventure story, but there’s some science-fictional stuff with a monstrous gravity well caused by the “bone” of a dead star, and the protagonist is more of an antihero. It’s not a story that will stick with you, but it’s a good read.

Three stars.

Bride Ninety-One, by Robert Silverberg

In Silverberg's newest piece, contract marriages are the norm, and marriages with aliens are the fad, so Paul Clay has entered a six-month marriage to Landy, a Suvornese. They’ve agreed to follow Terran mores, which leads to more than a few misunderstandings.

This silly piece of fluff seems to exist solely for its mildly suggestive “humorous” ending. The accepted Terran mores feel like they’re from a decade or more ago, not the far future. Some of that may be due to Landy using bad sources, since Paul is often confused by her, but even his attitudes feel a bit old-fashioned. Well-written but pointless.

A low three stars.

To Serve the Masters, by Perry A. Chapdelaine

'Genetic' (the character's name–people are known only by their function) is the end product of over 200 generations of selective breeding by the Masters. We follow his career from childhood to being taken to the Masters’ homeworld for the fulfillment of his millennia of breeding. Maybe the Masters should have couched their request more carefully.

Genetic receives the high honor of conferring directly with a Master. Art by Gaughan

Here is this month’s offering from a new author. It’s not bad, though it is overly long. We could have done with less detail about the alien genetics that inspire our protagonist, and I’m not sure I can really accept most of the premise. But Chapdelaine shows promise and more from him would not be amiss.

A very low three stars.

Venus Smiles, by J. G. Ballard

The community of Vermilion Sands has commissioned a sonic sculpture from a local artist. Unfortunately, everyone hates it; it’s ugly and plays eastern-style quarter tones nobody likes. A member of the Fine Arts Committee moves it to his garden, where it eventually starts playing late Romantic composers. But then it starts to grow.

As I understand it, this is largely a rewrite of Ballard’s “Mobile”, which appeared in Science Fantasy a decade ago, moving the action to Vermilion Sands and maybe adding some other things. By Ballard’s standards, this is a much more conventional story than he tends to produce these days, with only the unexplained growth of the statue being truly weird. I’m not a fan of Ballard, but others may get more out of this than I did.

Three stars.

Friday at the Fanoclasts, by Lin Carter

Our Man in Fandom takes us to a “typical” meeting of his club, though it sounds more like a party. There’s a lot of namedropping, though I was interested to hear that Alexei Panshin is looking for a publisher for a critical study of the works of Robert Heinlein. Carter also tells us that the Fanoclasts aren’t big on organization and structure. Given they’re the ones putting on this year’s Worldcon, I’m not sure that bodes well.

Three stars.

A Bowl Bigger Than Earth, by Philip José Farmer

Awakening from his deathbed, Morfiks finds himself in a hairless, sexless body sliding down the frictionless slope of a gigantic brass bowl. He is flung out the other side and lands in a river, from which he is fished out and taken to a city of brass. There, no one has a name, all are equal, and all are punished for any infraction unless the wrongdoer confesses. Everyone also studiously avoids mentioning just where it is they are.

A typical Gaughan abstract for a typical Farmer story. Art by Gaughan

As usual, Farmer gives us an interesting set-up and no real pay-off. I found the ending unpleasant and rather tasteless. In my review of Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”, I noted that Harlan didn’t wallow in the ugliness he showed us. Farmer wallows.

Two stars.

Faust Aleph-Null (Part 2 of 3), by James Blish

Weapons manufacturer Baines has contracted the services of black magician Theron Ware. Following the successful death of Governor Rogan of California, Baines has arrived at Ware’s Italian villa at Christmas time, along with his executive assistant Jack Ginsberg and company scientist Adolph Hess. Also present is Father Domenico of the white monks of Monte Albano, sent by his superiors as an observer in accordance with the Grand Covenant.

Baines’ next target is scientist Albert Stockhausen. Because Stockhausen is a good man, his death will require greater magic than Rogan’s. Ware enlists Baines and his two companions to aid in the summoning of the demon Marchosias. Once the scientist is dead, Baines reveals his true goal: he wants all the demons of Hell released to walk the Earth for 24 hours. That’s more than Ware can manage, but he should be able to produce 50 or so. However, he will need the help not only of Baines and his men, but also Fr. Domenico. The date of the experiment is set for Easter. To be concluded.

Marchosias appears in the first of several forms. Art by Gray Morrow.

Not much happens here. There’s a subplot about Ginsberg and a succubus, but apart from the summoning, this installment consists of more people sitting around talking than a Heinlein novel. And while a lot of it is interesting, I’m not sure it’s necessary. The first two installments could easily have been condensed to a medium-length story. Much of the rest feels like Blish showing off the depth of his research.

Three stars.

Invader, by Harl Vincent

Chuck Radford awakens to the sensation of something attaching itself to the back of his neck. Meanwhile on Tau Ceti II, the mind of Princess Arla has fled, and Prince Bor’s mind must be sent after her. Chuck and his partner receive an unexpected windfall and decide on sudden vacations, with Chuck uncharacteristically picking Las Vegas as his destination. After an incredible run of luck, he wins just enough to pay off the debts of the troubled Jan Jones, whom he then rescues from a mysterious gunman.

Chuck’s most amazing skill is the ability to deliver a roundhouse kick in an elevator. Art by Vaughn Bodé

Harl Vincent was a pretty big name before the War, big enough to be chosen to do a round-robin story with the likes of Murray Leinster, Doc Smith and Stanley Weinbaum. As you can tell from the recap, the bones of this story are pretty pulpy. The writing, on the other hand, feels more modern; nothing special, just not the heavy slog of something from 30 years ago. If I have a real complaint, it’s that the gunman is never adequately explained. It was otherwise an enjoyable trifle.

Three stars.

Summing up

Another C to C- issue. There’s some forgettable fun and some stuff that’s sure to upset Mrs. Grundy and maybe even those less easily offended. (I certainly didn’t expect to find a term for an artificial phallus in IF, and I’m not sure that’s what Blish meant.) I miss the heady days of the March issue or wish for at least one stand-out story.

An oceanic theme from Clement. I wonder if this is related to Raindrop or The Mechanic.




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Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy

[July 24, 1967] Not Feelin’ Groovy (Famous Science Fiction #1-3)

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by Mx. Kris Vyas-Myall

I guess it had to happen. I have reached the age of 34 and am annoyed by modern pop music. I should say this is one specific type. Not the experimental psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix or Pink Floyd, nor the soulful songs of Gladys Knight or The Four Tops. No, I am referring to sickly sweet “flower music” that has come over from California.

Feelin Groovy Harper's Bizarre Album

I first noticed it with Jan & Dean’s Yellow Balloon, a song which makes nursery rhymes sound like The Rolling Stones.

Windy by The Association Single

This was followed by more creeping into the charts such as The Association apparently performing a weather forecast and Harper’s Bizarre doing two awful covers of already poor songs. Then the worst has now been appearing everywhere. Scott McKenzie’s San Francisco, which sounds less like a pop song as an advertising jingle for flora hats.

San Francisco by Scott McKenzie

So many of them are appearing on pirate radio now, apparently superseding the beats and blues sounds I have enjoyed over the last few years. Having to hear so many cloying horticultural tunes from groups like The Young Rascals, The Turtles and The Johnny Mann Singers, is enough to make anyone want to hide in the past.

Thankfully there is a new magazine just for that: Robert Lowndes' (of '50s magazine editing fame) new effort, Famous Science Fiction.

Famous Science Fiction

Famous is about 90% reprint and 10% new material. We are told the purpose is to bring to light pre-1938 stories that were well regarded but have since been out of print, whilst also bringing back an intermediate market for SF between Amazing and the comics.

Famous #1

Famous #1 Magazine Cover

The cover is not an original Finlay, rather a colourisation of a piece from 1962’s Amazing.

Original Image from 1962 Amazing
Artwork by Virgil Finlay

The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings

Ray Cummings story is his first and indeed was well known. However, it has been reprinted many times.

Printings of Girl in the Golden Atom

It first appeared in All-Story Weekly in 1919 and most recently in the collection The Giant Anthology of Science Fiction. Whilst this last reprint was thirteen years ago, it doesn’t feel as hard to find as Lowdnes seems to intend.

Anyway, it concerns a chemist (named merely The Chemist) who recites to his friends how he created a powerful microscope allowing him to see objects smaller than ever before. Looking inside a gold ring he finds a woman sitting inside a cave. He develops chemicals to shrink and grow himself so he can enter this microscopic world. From here it proceeds into an adventure tale as he must save her nation from destruction at the hands of an invading force.

Although it is important to acknowledge this story is almost fifty years old, this still feels old-fashioned for the time, more Victorian than Post-War in style. Also, even for the 1910s, the science is ridiculous. For example, the golden ring world resembles Earth because it comes from Earth, whilst Martian atoms would resemble Mars.

All of this would be tolerable if it weren’t so dull. Large sections are just spent with The Chemist explaining dull details and his friends ejaculating in surprise between puffs of cigars. Journey to the Centre of the Earth this is not!

Two stars…just.

The City of Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith

Smith fits Lowdnes’ brief better as, unlike fellow Weird Tales writers Howard and Lovecraft, his reprints have largely been restricted to a couple of Arkham House collections. That is, except for the Singing Flame stories!

Reprints of Smith's City of the Singing Flame

City of the Singing Flame first appeared in Gernsbeck’s Wonder Stories in July 1931. It was then combined with its sequel, from November of the same year, (see below) in Tales of Wonder in 1940 whereupon it became a regular reprint, up to Derleth’s The Other Side of The Moon, which you can still get in paperback today.

In the narrative, Hastane has received the journal of author Giles Angrath, who recently disappeared along with artist Felix Ebbonly. In the journal’s account, Angrath is walking near his cabin when he steps into a mysterious stone circle and is transported to another place. He begins to explore the strange new land, encountering the beings that dwell there and their Singing City.

Comparing this to Golden Atom, Singing Flame does everything right Cummings' story does wrong. Where Atom gets bogged down in technical gobbledygook, this is just willing to say it doesn’t understand, whereas the former creates an unimaginative repetition of our world, the latter is a work of colossal imagination, unlike any other I have read. And, most importantly, it is never dull.

Four stars

Voice of Atlantis by Laurence Manning

Wonder Stories Cover 1934

This comes from Wonder Stories in 1934, but I do not believe it has been reprinted. Congratulations, one out of three!

Clearly a fan of Manning, Lowndes has reprinted three others from this series in Magazine of Horror, where members of The Strangers Club tell each other unusual tales.

Volking tells of his experiments in telepathy, where he makes contact with a man from twenty thousand years in Earth’s past. This is a man from Atlantis, whose civilization was significantly more advanced than ours and is surprised by how savage we are today.

Erewhon by Samuel Butler Cover

This also feels very Victorian, reminding me of lost civilization tales like Erewhon. It should also be mentioned that even the characters note its style of using Socratic dialogue feels clumsy and the science is nonsensical. At least there is a kernel of some interesting ideas.

Two Stars

And now for the two new vignettes:

The Plague by George Henry Smith

In 2200, The Death Thing has come to a convent to claim the lives of eighteen young women. If Father Joseph does not accede to the request, all the children may be taken.

This is a dark and grim, if rather obvious tale. Like a combination of Killdozer and a Twilight Zone episode. However, the atmosphere raises it up a little.

Three Stars

The Question by J. Hunter Holly

Fifty years ago, the Vegans first encountered humanity. Humanity was told they would be allowed to join the family of intergalactic civilization if Earth could wipe out warfare. Since then, the World has strived to reach that goal, but will the Vegans be satisfied?

Well told story, if a little old fashioned and moralistic.

Three Stars

So, a mediocre start, with the one standout tale you can pick up elsewhere for a few shillings. But will it get better?

Famous #2

Famous #2 Cover

Another Finlay cover, this time from 1958’s Fantastic.

1958 Fantastic Reprint Cover
Artwork by Virgil Finlay

Inside Lowndes does better in his aims, with none of these stories appearing since first publication:

The Moon Menace by Edmond Hamilton

Weird Tales Cover from 1927

The first reprint comes from the September 1927 issue of Weird Tales, penned by the prolific, and still writing, Edmond Hamilton.

In The Moon Menace, Dr. Howard Gilbert, a famous but reclusive scientist, receives televisual signals from the Moon. Most other scientists doubt Gilbert’s findings but when the Earth is plunged into total darkness, he may be the world’s only hope.

It starts as a clear imitation of War of the Worlds and is a pretty standard invasion story. Whilst it may not be the most original work it has some interesting elements and readable enough to keep me engaged.

Three Stars

Dust by Wallace West

Although unpublished before, this was apparently rejected for Weird Tales publication some years ago.

Ralph Marvin of the Inquirer is writing up a story on how humanity may die out, but is it already here in the air we breathe?

A very didactic tale, one that could have been a science fact article. However, in spite of stylistic issues, it is a meaty subject that it is good to see addressed in fiction.

Three Stars

The White City by David H. Keller, M.D.

Amazing 1935 Reprint Cover

Taken from May 1935’s Amazing, Keller gives us yet another disaster yarn.

Farmer John Johnson decides to build a small holding in the slums of New York and live self-sufficiently. He becomes quite a sensation in the city as an eccentric, but when a terrible blizzard hits the Big Apple, he may be the one hope the world has.

This is an odd piece; for the majority it appears to just be the tall tale of an eccentric farmer. Then it takes a hard left turn into the kind of story you would see in the lowest of comic books.

Two Stars, mostly for curiosity value.

Rimghost by A. Bertram Chandler

The other new tale is a further outing for Chandler’s Rim stories, which we have been covering from the early days of the Journey to the most recent serial in If.

Mr. Willoughby joins a motley crew aboard the Rimgirl. However, something strange occurs, they encounter an exact duplicate of their ship, including its crew.

This spends far too much time for me running through all the characters and establishing connections to other stories such that the actual mystery is treated too abruptly. And, whilst the actual prose is solid, the misogynistic descriptions of Mary are poor.

A low Two Stars

Seeds from Space by Laurence Manning

Cover Wonder Stories 1935

And we finish with another visit to the Strangers Club, this one getting the cover of Wonder Stories for June 1935.

This time Col. Marsh tells of Blenkins who grows plants on his roof in Greenwich village. He plants some strange seeds in this garden and they grow into unusual tall plants. Eventually they walk into his apartment, telling him they are an intelligent species.

A reasonable story of sentient plant life, but it is less Day of the Triffids and more a forgettable tall tale.

Two Stars

So, whilst no complete blunders this issue, no stand outs either. Will third time be the charm?

Famous #3

Famous #3 Cover

Our final issue goes further back for its cover, from Science Stories in 1953.

Reprint Image from 1953's Science Stories
Artwork by Virgil Finlay

Beyond the Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith

This picks up after the publication of Angrath’s journal, where Hastane goes in search of the mysterious city. Within it he encounters even more wonders and what becomes of people who go through the flame.

I feel much the same about this sequel as I do about its antecedent. It is not so much a new idea and largely concerned with continuing exploration of this world, but Smith is such a marvelous wordsmith, the sense of awe pulls you along.

Four stars

A Single Rose by Jon DeCles

The only new fiction this issue. Silas Finnegan is a successful industrialist, who uses all his resources to make the one thing he always dreamed of, his very own unicorn. Of course, he then has to work out how to afford to keep it.

This piece seems to be aiming for something deeper about the nature of beauty, but I mostly just found it a pleasant little story about achieving childhood fantasies.

Three stars

Disowned by Victor Endersby

Astounding 1932 Coverr

This one comes from September 1932’s Astounding, although reads to me more like something I would expect in Weird Tales.

On a rainy night a party is caught in a storm and Tristan is struck by ball lightning. This causes Tristan’s gravity to be reversed and he is being pulled upwards towards the sky.

Disowned Artwork
Artwork by H. W. Wesso

This is very silly, not just in the science, but also in the circumstances which follow from it, with him living an upside-down life on the ceiling and doing circus acts.

One Star

The Last American by J. A. Mitchell

This is the earliest story so far, originating in book form in the 19th Century. However, it is once again one that Derleth currently has out in paperback.

Far Boundaries Cover

By 1990, the Mehrikan civilization vanished from the Earth and remains a mystery to the historians in Persia. This recounts the voyage of Noz-yt-ahl aboard the Zlothub in 2951 to their mysterious land.

Last American Art, New York In Ruins
All Artwork also by the Author

Landing in a strange port with huge structures, they eventually ascertain it is the fabled lost city of Nuh-Yuk, where the people were famous for nothing but their greed and having only prosperity as their God. As they continue to explore Nuh-Yuk they become less enamoured with the civilization, finding the people and buildings monotonous.

Artist's Impression of Life in Nuh-Yuk

As such they then head down river to Washington and there encounter Jon and his family, the very last remnants of the Mehrikans.

Fight between the Persians and Mehrikans

In spite of its age, this holds up as a great satirical piece, with the American being put in the position of the fallen civilization, judged harshly by those in a now dominant position and treated as a museum piece.

A high four stars

The Man Who Awoke by Laurence Manning

Continuing his reprints of Manning’s back catalogue, Lowndes has moved on to his Man Who Awoke series, with this first part coming from March 1933’s Wonder Stories.

Wonder Stories March 1933

Norman Winters has discovered that by putting himself into a comatose state in a chamber protected from cosmic rays, he can survive without aging. Faking his disappearance, he then sets up an x-ray to wake himself up in the year 5000.

Winters wakes in a time of plenty but not much excitement. People live in small villages and get everything from the trees they grow, only working less than two hours a day. Once the truth about himself is revealed he is caught in struggle between the Oldsters and the Council of Youth. Eventually Winters decides he cannot live here and uses the same method to advance to a later time. To be continued.

News From Nowhere by William Morris Cover

When I started, I thought it was going to be another The Sleeper Awakes. However, it is actually closer to William Morris’ News From Nowhere, showing us an agrarian future without want or struggle, and also asks questions of our current waste of our natural resources.

But this is not a purely a utopian vision, it acknowledges that the level of reaction to “The Age of Waste” (as they call the 20th Century) has resulted in excessive caution and explicitly calls for a middle path, for progress to exist without careless consumption.

Also, in stark contrast to his Stranger Club tales, this is elegantly written. Rather than wading through treacle I felt like I was drinking a glass of dry white wine on a summer’s evening.

Five Stars

Finally, we get the reader rankings for the first issue here:

Reader Ratings Issue 1: 1) Golden Atom; 2) City of the Singing Flame 3) Voice of Atlantis 4) Question 5) Plague
Showing myself to have very different opinions from the average reader of this publication

Some Other Someday

West Coast Consortium Band Photo
West Coast Consortium, actually from London

So maybe the past isn’t always that amazing either. Whether you are looking at then or now, there will always be both muck and brass.

I am not sure if I will pick up future issues or stick to picking up paperback anthologies for my past exploration. But, even though I will not put plants on my head for a trip to America, I am still happy to listen to Radio London, maybe just turning down the volume if West Coast Consortium come on…




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[July 8, 1967] Family lines (August 1967 Galaxy)

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by Gideon Marcus

Royal Families

The news always likes to focus on heads of state, especially when they are flashy or glamorous in some way.  From Princess Grace of Monaco to Crown Prince Akihito of Japan, these leaders are instant idols, somehow more compelling for having the reins (and reigns) of nations even though they presumably put their pants/skirts/obis on the same way as the common folk.

This week scored a triplet of spotlights.  For instance, in the island nation of Tonga, Taufaʻahau Tupou IV was crowned monarch in a ceremony that included a feast of 71,000 suckling pigs!  And that, by itself, tells you all you need to know about the current Jewish/Moslem population of Tonga…

Closer to home, El BJ, chief of the United States, has got his first grandson.  Patrick Lyndon Nugent is the newborn child of First Daughter Luci Nugent (neé Johnson).  There is no word, as yet, whether his toddler status will grant him deferment in the lastest draft lottery.

Finally, junta chairman General Nguyen Cao Ky, the flamboyant leader of South Vietnam since 1965, has decided not to run for President in the upcoming democratic (perhaps) September elections.  Premier Thiệu has been backed by the junta for the top role, instead, with Ky getting the Vice Presidential nod.  It's all a lot of musical chairs, anyway. After all, Ky has asserted that the only politician he admires is Hitler, which tells you all you need to know about the state of democracy in that country (and its current Jewish population…)

Watching Big Brother

Fred Pohl, one of the original Futurians and a pillar of the SF community, has had his hands full for nearly a decade.  After he took over the reins of Galaxy and the newly acquired IF from H. L. Gold, rather than sit on his laurels, he looked for new worlds to conquer.  Thus, Worlds of Tomorrow was launched in 1963.  But juggling three mags (plus a few reprint-only titles) was a challenging job, often resulting in uneven quality and occasionally right-out flubs.  For instance, last year's issue of Worlds of Tomorrow where the pages got all mixed up.

One would think, with WoT going out of publication, that things might be less hectic over at the Guinn Co. mags.  But, in fact, this month's issue of Galaxy is even more higgledy-piggledy, making reading a real challenge.


by Sol Dember

Which is a shame, because there's some quite good stuff in here (mixed with some mediocre stuff, to be sure).  Thankfully, you've got me to be your guide.  Just grab your compass, or you might get lost.

Hawksbill Station, by Robert Silverberg


by Virgil Finlay

One-way time travel is developed in the early 21st Century.  Since humanity is deathly afraid of creating paradoxes, the new portals are used by the totalitarian regime for just one purpose: shipping undesirables into the far past, a sort of Paleozoic Botany Bay.

Hawksbill Station is the one reserved for male subversives, established sometime in the late Cambrian (Silverberg repeatedly gives a date of two billion years ago, but of course, the Cambrian went from about 600-500 million B.C.) Our perspective is that of Barrett, the de facto head of the more than 100 settler/prisoners on the coast of what will one day be the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a community slowly decaying as its denizens age along with no greater purpose in life.  That is, until a new young convict arrives from the future, one who appears to be a government spy…

This is more of a travelogue than a story, and the ending comes on a bit abruptly.  But the characterization, the details, the setting are all so gripping that I tore through the novella in no time, despite the labyrinthine page distribution.

Four stars, and if it ever gets expanded into a novel, it could make five.

Angel, Dark Angel, by Roger Zelazny

In another future-set tale, society is maintained by a sort of corporate Angel of Death who, with the help of ten thousand teleporting assistants, brings death to citizens after they have made sufficient contribution to humanity (and are, perhaps, on the verge of being detrimental).

One noteworthy woman has cultivated the aesthetic race of spirules (depicted on the cover) as an antidote to the cold, mechanistic technology of her time.  A subordinate angel is sent to dispatch her, but things prove more complicated.

This is a middlin' Zelazny story, not an empty poetic suit like some, but not a near masterpiece like some of his other works.  Three stars.

We're Coming Through the Window, by K. M. O'donnell

Throwaway vignette about a fellow who keeps duplicating himself due to time travel and needs Fred Pohl's help to get out of it.

Cute.  Three stars.

Ginny Wrapped in the Sun, by R. A. Lafferty

Ginny seems to be a precocious four year old, but in fact, is actually just a baseline human, maturing at age 4 and going on as an upright monkey.  It's the rest of us who are evolutionary aberrations, having five times as many heartbeats that a creature our mass should have.  Inevitably, Lafferty suggests, we'll all go ape.

This tale doesn't really work, and it's a bit more impenetrable than Lafferty's usual fare.  Two stars.

For Your Information: A Pangolin Is a Pangolin, by Willy Ley

Ley's article on the strange mammal that is neither aardvark nor anteater nor armadillo is interesting, but not much more than you might get from a rather good encyclopedia entry.

Three stars.

9-9-99, by Richard Wilson

Two wizened old characters are determined to settle an old score since both have outlived their wagered death dates, the bet having been made back in the 30s.

Whether it is even possible for them to collect given the state of the Earth in the late '90s is another matter…

Good enough, I guess.  Three stars.


by Wally Wood

Travelers Guide to Megahouston, by H. H. Hollis


by Wally Wood

This is a very long, somewhat farcical account of a 21st Century evolution of the Astrodome, in which domes enclose whole cities.

Pretty dull stuff.  Two stars.

The Being in the Tank, by Theodore L. Thomas

An alien being materializes in the heart of a hellish hydrazine factory and demands to speak to the President.  But is he the real deal?

Forgettable, but inoffensive.  A low three stars.

Hide and Seek, by Linda Marlowe

A childhood game is adapted into a method of population control.  It has shock value, but little else.

Two stars.

The Great Stupids, by Miriam Allen deFord

Mad scientist makes everyone under 50 a mental moron, all in service of a rather lame joke at the end.  DeFord was once one of the stars of the genre, but her light has waned over the years.  Here's hoping she's a Cepheid variable and not a dying dwarf.

To Outlive Eternity (Part 2 of 2), by Poul Anderson


by Jack Gaughan

It is fitting that the final long piece of the issue is a sort of mirror image of Silverberg's novella in terms of strengths and weaknesses.  As we read in last month's installment, the ramscoop colony ship Leonora Christine suffered damage to its decelerators while traveling at near light speed on the way to Beta Virginis.  The solution: to accelerate to terrific velocities instead, plunging through the heart of the galaxy and out into the comparative emptiness of intergalactic space where repairs might be effected.

In this half, event after event conspires to force the Christine to travel ever faster and faster, ultimately spanning the lifespan of the universe and beyond in a matter of months.  The story is told as a series of problem-solving conversations spread out over the weeks, and each character largely exists solely to have these conversations.  Except for the women, of course, who are almost universally hysterics or hangers-on…except for the First Officer who ultimately whores herself out for the good of the crew.

In short, the setup and ideas are really neat, but its a plot outline, not a novel.  And where Poul Anderson does try to characterize, it's with quick stereotypes, and usually not agreeable ones.  As for setting, there really isn't one.  The crew of the Christine might as well be floating heads in blank spaces for all we really get to experience the ship.

Readable, but badly flawed.  Three stars.

Matrix Goose, by Jack Sharkey

Last up, some very familiar nursery rhymes as they might be rendered by robots–after the demise of humanity.  It's cute.  Three stars.


Perhaps my favorite example, art by Gray Morrow

Cross-eyed Kin

And so, Galaxy ends up a largely enjoyable, but unremarkable read — just under 3 stars in ranking.  Perhaps, with the demise of Worlds of Tomorrow further in the rear-view mirror, Pohl will be able to concentrate on (and concentrate the best stories into) his remaining mags.

On the other hand, perhaps he hasn't learned his lesson.  He's got a new magazine is coming out next month…



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Magazine/Anthology, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Serial

[June 2, 1967] Uneasy Alliances (July 1967 IF)

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by David Levinson

Persecution and division

It’s rarely discussed, but a major condition of the decolonization of Africa has been that the newly independent nations are expected to retain their old colonial boundaries. The stated reason is to prevent squabbling and even armed conflict over redrawing those boundaries, such as we’ve seen between Pakistan and India. It sounds good on paper; unfortunately, paper is where those boundaries were drawn, often with little regard for people living there and leaving major tribes and ethnic groups split by lines on a map. Add in the tendency of colonial administrations to favor one tribe over others and you have the basis for a lot of unrest.

Nigeria is proving to be a case in point. Economic problems, tensions between the Muslim north and Christian south, government corruption, and an election widely seen as fraudulent all came to a head in an attempted military coup at the beginning of last year. Although the coup failed, the military was left in charge, and military governors were placed in the four states. An attempt to create a more centralized government led to a counter-coup and the near dissolution of Nigeria. Under Western pressure, the new head of the government, Colonel Yakubu Gowon, restored the federal system.

Then pogroms in the north against the Igbo (a largely Christian tribe from Eastern Nigeria) and other eastern groups left as many as 30,000 dead and over a million refugees fled to the east. The strain on the east led to negotiations between Colonel Gowon and Eastern military governor Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu seemed promising, but have fallen apart. On May 27th, Gowon declared that Nigeria would be divided into 12 states (cutting the Igbo off from oil money). The same day Colonel Ojukwu declared the independence of Eastern Nigeria. As we go to press, it has been announced that the new country will be called the Republic of Biafra. Nigeria is unlikely to accept this assertion of independence.

l.: Colonel Yakubu Gowon of Nigeria. r.: Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu of Biafra.

Mediocrity strikes again

Similarly unstable is this month’s IF, full of shaky partnerships, from famous authors and vikings to complicated family politics. Some expect betrayal, others will find themselves surprised.

Joe Miller is the most fearsome warrior these vikings have ever seen. Art by Gaughan

The Felled Star (Part 1 of 2), by Philip José Farmer

Twenty years ago, everyone who ever lived and reached the age of five or so awoke on the Riverworld, brought back to life by someone for mysterious purposes. Samuel Clemens (better known to the world as Mark Twain) is traveling with a band of vikings led by Eric Bloodaxe. Also along is Sam’s best friend, Joe Miller, a “titanthrop” or ape-man with a nose like a proboscis monkey. They’re seeking a source of iron, which is almost non-existent. Bloodaxe carries an iron axe, most likely from meteoric iron, but he wants more for the power it will bring. Sam wants to build a steamboat (and find his beloved wife Livy). They also hope to reach the headwaters of the River, which Joe once visited and saw a mist-shrouded tower and flying boats.

The group is attacked by a settlement of 19th century Germans, equipped with gliders and bombs. The fall of a huge meteor several valleys away smashes everything with a massive wave, but the viking boat manages to ride out the destruction. They fish Lothar von Richthofen (the younger brother of the Red Baron) out of the wreckage, and he gladly joins their quest.

Curse you, Red Baron’s little brother! Art by Gaughan

This brief installment is largely set-up. Mostly, we get everyone’s motivations and witness a possible source of a lot of iron. The most interesting bit here is Joe Miller. His tale of the tower is very well done. The implication that this distant relative of Homo sapiens counts as human for whoever is behind the great resurrection also raises some fascinating questions. We’ll see what Farmer manages to do with all this.

Three stars.

Pelandra’s Husbands, by E. A. Walton

Pelandra is destined to become an immortal and marry the immortal leader of an expedition to a planet circling another star. Along the way, she is expected to marry a series of men selected for their compatibility as spare parts for the immortals. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love with husband Number Three, and he is scheduled for recycling very soon.

Walton is a British fan, making her first professional sale. Very little makes any sense. The whole situation is contrived just to create the problem and obvious ending.

Two stars.

Population Implosion, by Andrew J. Offutt

The oldest people are dropping dead for no apparent reason, and what constitutes oldest is getting younger every day. It turns out that the death rate now corresponds exactly with the birth rate. International efforts try to reduce the birth rate, but somebody’s cheating.

Bob Hope and (presumably) Bing Crosby starring in The Road to Armageddon. Art by Vaughn Bodé

Another story that makes no sense and has more holes than all the cheese in Switzerland. It’s an interesting “what if?”, but Offutt doesn’t do anything with it.

Two stars.

A Ticket to Zenner, by C. C. MacApp

Tom Larrow has worked on the planet Merob for several years, but a revolution means that all non-Merobans must leave. He was attacked and had his passport and ticket for Earth stolen. Lucky for him, since the ship blew up just as it entered space. His assailant also kindly left behind another passport and a ticket to Zenner. With the help of his employer, Tom gets away with a ring of little value and the name of a contact, but someone is still hunting for him.

Tom tries to smuggle himself off the starship. Art by Virgil Finlay

When he’s not writing about Gree or trying to be funny, MacApp is a decent writer. Somebody like Keith Laumer might have made this story (which owes more than a little to North by Northwest) a bit more exciting and tied things up a bit better, but MacApp’s rendition is serviceable.

Three stars.

The Tusk, by L. Sprague de Camp

A very short poem musing on a mammoth tusk in a museum.

Art by Gaughan

I have a poor sense of meter, but the rhythm here feels jarring and inconsistent. The punchline is also facile at best. Not Sprague’s best work.

Two stars.

The Purpose of Fandom, by Lin Carter

It doesn’t have a purpose, says Carter. But here he looks at how science fiction fandom differs from others. Notably, the large number of fans who become pros. This month, it’s those who became publishers and editors, next month will be writers.

Three stars.

Adam’s Eva, by Alan Dirkson

A minor mishap during his activation leaves Adam Pilot more ambitious and more prone to ask questions than most robots. His first day on the job, he meets Eva Hostess, who goes to great lengths to make everything perfect in the hopes that today there will be Passengers. But Passengers never come, and flights are often canceled due to fuel shortages. When Eva disappears, Adam does everything he can to find her, even going down to the Slag Heap, where he makes a big difference to the lives of the unfortunates there and eventually learns why there are never any Passengers.

Adam on the Slag Heap. Art by Virgil Finlay

Here is our second first-time author this month. Line by line, the writing is serviceable, though nothing special. But the whole thing is painfully obvious, and the title really gives away the ending. It’s also a bit long.

A very low three stars, though that might be generous.

Spaceman! (Part 3 of 3), by Keith Laumer

Billy Danger accidentally found himself aboard a spaceship where he committed himself to seeing to the safety of the beautiful Lady Raire. He lost her, found her and lost her again. Now he’s a slave. He befriends a fellow slave, the insect-like Fsha-Fsha, and they plan an escape. Before they can pull it off, Billy is sent to a punishment assignment. He’s rescued by Fsha-Fsha and Srat, whom he thought had betrayed him. Srat is killed, but Billy and Fsha-Fsha gradually work their way toward Raire’s home planet, having several adventures along the way. Eventually, he’ll have to rescue Raire one final time.

Billy became an expert swordsman by… sorting fruit. Laumer almost makes it believable. Art by Castellon

All in all, it’s a decent space adventure, but that’s all it is. Laumer is capable of much better. This also feels like it’s based on his notes for Earthblood and ideas he pitched to Rosel Brown that they didn’t use. It’s a fine novel, but if you have to choose between reading this or Earthblood, choose the latter. However, reading them together will give you a greater appreciation of Brown as an author.

Three stars for this installment and the novel as a whole.

Summing up

A pretty weak issue overall. Some stuff that’s okay and some that fails to reach that level. The Farmer has potential, but we all know he has problems with endings. There’s also a letter from James Blish, talking about his Star Trek book. Apparently, it’s done very well, and both he and the publisher have been deluged with fan mail. There’s a second volume due out towards the end of the year.

Speaking of Blish…




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[May 12, 1967] There and Back Again (June 1967 Galaxy)

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by Gideon Marcus

Living in the Past


Dancing on the main stage

The Renaissance Pleasure Faire has really taken off since it first opened in 1963.  Sort of a reaction to modern society, it is several acres of the 16th Century surrounded by semi-arid modern Southern California.  And as a refuge from the horrors of today (and sanitized to be free of the horrors of yesterday), it has become a prime sanctuary for hippies and other counter-culture freaks to enjoy some solace.


A typical scene–we pretend the "mundanes" aren't there…

And the Journey is no exception!


Iacobus of Constantinople (left) confers with Lord Sir Basil, Count of Argent (me!)


Lorelei has found her chosen weapon.


Captain Clara Hawkins (time traveling from the 17th Century) and Lorelei ride unicorns.


Good writers don't grow on trees, but some, like Elijah, play in them.


The whole gang.  Note associates Elijah (purple, third from left), Joe (center, back), Abby (gold, center front), Lorelei (to her right), and Tam (second from right).

Living in the Future

The pages of this month's Galaxy also offer an escape, and for the most part, a pleasant one!


by Gray Morrow

To Outlive Eternity (pt 1 of 2), by Poul Anderson

Things open with a literal bang.  The Leonora Christine, zooming through space at relativistic velocities on a mission of colonization, rams into a small nebula at near light speed.  Though the 50 or so crew and scientists are unhurt, the ship has lost its ability to decelerate.  It is now doomed to travel through the galaxy and beyond, its tau (or time) compression factor ever increasing, such that the entire life of the universe might pass in a lifetime.

Earth is now long in the past; can the Leonora Christine's complement effect repairs such that they can at least someday cease being a cosmic Flying Dutchman?


by Jack Gaughan

Poul Anderson, when he's got his blood high, fuses science and character better than most (when he's in it for the paycheck, he gets the science right, but the rest is dull as dishwater).  The near-light Bussard ramjet concept was explored recently in Niven's The Ethics of Madness, but this gripping tale promises to reward the reader more fully.

Four stars.

Mirror of Ice, by Gary Wright

Gary must have recently watched Grand Prix, for his tale of high-speed bobsledding of the future, with its 10% fatality rate per race, strongly evokes that vivid movie.  Or the author is just a big racing fanatic.  After all, such was the topic of his last story.

Anyway, perfectly acceptable, if not too memorable; I wonder if he'd originally intended this for Playboy…or Sports Illustrated!

Three stars.

Polity and Custom of the Camiroi, by R. A. Lafferty

A three-person anthropological team investigates the highly libertarian planet of Camiroi.  Society there is highly advanced, seemingly utopian, and utterly decentralized.  Sounds like a Heinleinesque paradise.  However, there are indications that the Terrans are being put on, mostly in an attempt to just get them to leave.

The result is something like what might have happened if Cordwainer Smith and Robert Sheckley had a baby.  That'd be one weird tot…but an interesting one.

Four stars.

The Man Who Loved the Faioli, by Roger Zelazny

The Faioli are ethereal beauties who appear in a man's (or a woman's?) last month of life.  Or perhaps they are the cause of impending demise.  In any event, they pay for the quick mortality with the most pleasant company imaginable, perhaps feeding on the emotional feedback.

Here is the tale of a man living-in-death (or dead in living?) who romances a Faioli and remains to tell about it.

Zelazny is capable of beautiful, effective prose, but sometimes, it seems he just waxes purple and hopes his readers can't tell the difference.  This one feels like the latter.

Three stars.

For Your Information: Another Look at Atlantis, by Willy Ley

Mr. Ley, Galaxy's science columnist, is back to form with this quite interesting article on all we know for certain (and it's not much!) about the mythical continent of Atlantis.  Worth a read.

Four stars.

Spare That Tree, by C. C. MacApp


by Dennis M. Smith

Inspector Kruger of the Interstellar Division is back (we first saw him in the January issue of IF).  This time, he's on the trail of a kidnapped tree, prized possession of an Emperor whom the galactic federation wishes to keep on the good side.

David observed that Laumer or Goulart could do a better job with these tales, and they are, indeed, the authors I was reminded of while reading this piece.  It starts out genuinely interesting and funny, but the last half meanders into a whimper.

A high two (or a low three, depending on your mood).

Howling Day, by Jim Harmon

In this epistolary, an agent keeps sending a spec script to the wrong kinds of publishing houses.  They all appreciate the quality of the work, but it's not quite right for what they put out.  Which makes sense–turns out it's not a spec script at all…

I found this one a bit tedious and old-fashioned.  Two stars.

The Adults, by Larry Niven


by Virgil Finlay

From the center of the galaxy comes Phthsspok, a super-intelligent, highly determined alien looking for a long lost colony.  He has reason to believe it is Earth…or was, hundreds of thousands of years ago.  Phthsspok is a Protector, with armored hide and hyper-reflexes.  Utterly beyond human capabilities.

Except, when Phthsspok runs across and kidnaps Jack Brennan, a Belter in his middle-40s, the connection between Protectors and humanity turns out to be closer than anyone expected.

Set in the same time and setting as World of Ptavvs, and featuring Lucas Garner and Lit Schaeffer from that book, The Adults is a fascinating read.  And it offers the compelling question: would you trade your sex and your outward humanity at age 45 for the privilege of immortality and extreme intellect?

Forty-four year olds in the audience, are you reading?

Four stars.

Alien's Bequest, by Charles V. De Vet

Wrapping things up, we have a new twist on The Puppet Masters.  It's mildly intriguing, and I am always happy to see De Vet's name, but ultimately, the story doesn't quite go anywhere.

Three stars.

Return to Reality

What a nice weekend that was!  First centuries past, then centuries to come.  I'm not sure I'm ready to face Vietnam, another summer of protests, or a second season of The Invaders.

Oh look!  The June issuse of Fantasy and Science Fiction has arrived.  Just in time…



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[May 6, 1967] Stirred?  Shaken? (June 1967 Amazing)

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by John Boston

Is something stirring at Amazing?  After several issues devoid of non-fiction features, this one starts a book review column by Harry Harrison, whose brief stint as nominal editor of the British magazine SF Impulse ended a few months ago.  Is a remake in order?  A change of guard in the wind?  There’s no hint.


by Johnny Bruck

The cover itself is also a change, not having been looted from the back files of Amazing or Fantastic Adventures.  The pleasantly lurid image of space-suited men watching or fleeing a battle of spacecraft is not credited, but other sources attribute it to a 1964 issue of Perry Rhodan, Germany’s long-running weekly paperback novella series, artist’s name Johnny Bruck.  I wonder if the publisher is paying him, or anyone.

Also perplexing is the shift in presentation on the cover.  Last issue, the display of big names was ostentatious.  Here, the only thing prominently displayed is “Winston K. Marks Outstanding New Story Cold Comfort,” sic without apostrophe.  Marks is one of the legion who filled the mid-1950s’ proliferation of SF magazines with competent and forgettable copy.  After a couple of stories in the early ‘40s, he reappeared with a few in 1953, contributed a staggering 25 stories in 1954 and 20 in 1955, and trailed off thereafter; he hasn’t been seen in these parts since mid-1959.  But here he is, name in lights, while Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, and Philip K. Dick are relegated to small type over the title.  Odd, and probably counter-productive, to say the least.

The Heaven Makers (Part 2 of 2), by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert’s serial The Heaven Makers concludes in this issue.  Imagine an SF novel oriented to the reference points of Charles Fort, Richard Shaver, and soap opera.  And then imagine—this is the hard part—that it’s nonetheless pretty readable.

First, we are property!  Just like Charles Fort said.  You may think you understand human history, but everything you know is wrong!  Earth is secretly dominated by the Chem, a species of very short, bandy-legged, silver-skinned alien humanoids who have been made immortal, and also connected tele-empathically, by a discovery of one of their ancient savants—Tiggywaugh’s web (definitely sic).  Only problem is . . . they’re bored.  Eternity weighs heavily on them.  They must be entertained and distracted!

So, the Chem send Storyships around the galaxy, though Earth’s is the only one we see.  This ship rests on the bottom of the ocean, from which vantage the Chem shape history in large and small ways both by direct intervention and by remote manipulation and heightening of human emotional states.  The result: wars that might be settled quickly at the conference table can be prolonged and intensified, and susceptible individuals can be driven as far as murder.  These events are recorded, processed, spiced up with their own emotional track, and broadcast to pique the jaded souls of the Chem. 

One of the stars of this industry is Fraffin, proprietor of Earth’s Storyship, but he’s suspected of letting hints drop to Earthfolk about what’s going on, a major crime among the Chem.  Kelexel, posing as a visitor, has been sent by the authorities to get to the bottom of things, after four previous investigators have found nothing and, suspiciously, resigned.  But Kelexel is quickly corrupted himself.  Fraffin shows him a “pantovive” of a man manipulated by the Chem into murdering his wife, which Kelexel finds quite gripping.  He also becomes obsessed with the woman’s daughter, Ruth (the Chem are quite captivated by the physiques of humans, and can interbreed with them).  Fraffin, having found Kelexel’s vulnerability, sets out to procure her for him.  So three dwarfish figures show up at her back door, immobilize her with some sort of ray, and carry her away to be mind-controlled and ravished by Kelexel.

At this point, the nagging sense of familiarity I was feeling came into focus.  Herbert has reinvented Richard Shaver’s Deros!  Shaver, a former psychiatric patient, wrote up his delusions of sadistic cave-dwelling degenerates tormenting normal people, which (with much reworking by editor Ray Palmer) boosted Amazing’s mid-1940s circulation to unheard-of levels, until the publisher put an end to the disreputable spectacle a few years later.  Now Herbert has gussied up the “Shaver Mystery” for prime time!  The distorted physical appearance . . . check.  The mind control rays . . . check.  The underground caverns . . . not exactly, these characters are underwater instead.  But that’s a minor detail.


by Gray Morrow

Oh, yes, the soap opera part.  Up on dry land, Andy Thurlow, a court psychologist, is Ruth’s old boyfriend; she threw him over for someone else, who turned out to be a low-life.  Andy’s never gotten over it.  Her father, holed up after his Chem-driven murder of her mother, won’t surrender to anybody but Andy.  Meanwhile, Andy, who is wearing polarized glasses as a result of an eye injury, has started to see what prove to be manifestations of Chem activity, invisible to anyone else.  Andy also gets back with Ruth, who has moved out on her husband; he takes her back to the marital house and waits so she can pick up some possessions.  But the Chem snatch her as described, and her husband falls through a glass door and dies. 

Back at the Chems’ submarine hideout, Kelexel is having his way with the pacified Ruth, who, when he’s not using her, studies the Chem via the pantovive machine, learning more and more, while Kelexel harbors growing misgivings about the whole Chem enterprise.  Andy, up on land, is trying to persuade Ruth’s father the murderer to cooperate with an insanity defense while wondering if the strange manifestations he has seen account for Ruth’s disappearance.  The plot lines are eventually resolved in confrontations among Kelexel, Fraffin, Ruth, and Andy with dialogue that is more reminiscent of daytime TV than Herbert’s turgid usual.  In the end, Herbert actually makes a readable story out of this sensational and largely ridiculous material.  Three stars.

Cold Comfort, by Winston K. Marks


by Gray Morrow

Winston Marks’s "Outstanding New Story" Cold Comfort is an amusing first-person rant by the first man to be cryogenically frozen for medical reasons and revived when his problem can be cured.  He’s pleased enough with his new kidneys, but isn’t impressed by this brave new world in which corporations now overtly dominate the world, there’s a nine-million-soldier garrison in East Asia, etc. etc. E.g. , “I am only now recovering from my first exposure to your local art gallery.  Who the hell invented quivering pigments?” It’s at best a black-humorous comedy routine, but well enough done.  Three stars.

The Mad Scientist, by Robert Bloch


by Virgil Finlay

After Marks it is downhill, or over a cliff.  The Mad Scientist by Robert Bloch, from Fantastic Adventures, September 1947, is a deeply unfunny farce about an over-the-hill scientist who works with fungi, who has a young and beautiful wife with whom the protagonist is having an affair. They want to get rid of the scientist with an extract of poisonous mushrooms, but he outsmarts them, and what a silly bore.  The fact that the protagonist is a science fiction writer and the story begins with some blather about how dangerous such people are does not enhance its interest at all.  One star.

Atomic Fire, by Raymond Z. Gallun


by Leo Morey

Raymond Z. Gallun’s Atomic Fire (Amazing, April 1931) is a period piece, Gallun’s third published story, in which far-future scientists Aggar Ho and Sark Ahar (with huge chests to breathe the thin atmosphere, spindly and attenuated limbs, large ears, a coat of polar fur—evolution!) have discovered that the Black Nebula is about to swallow up the sun and kill all life on Earth. The solution?  Atomic power, obviously, to be tested off Earth for safety (the spaceship has just been delivered).  Unfortunately, their experiments first fail, then succeed all too well; but Sark Ahar’s quick thinking turns disaster into salvation!  As the blurb might have read.  Gallun had an imagination from the beginning, but the stilted writing makes this one hard to appreciate in these modern days of the 1960s.  Two stars.

Project Nightmare, by Robert Heinlein


by William Ashman

In Robert Heinlein’s Project Nightmare, from the April/May 1953 Amazing, the Russians deliver an ultimatum demanding surrender, since they’ve mined American cities with nuclear bombs.  The only hope is a colorful and miscellaneous bunch of clairvoyants to locate the bombs before they go off.  It’s a fast-moving but superficial, wisecracking story, a considerable regression for the author.  Some years ago he published an essay titled On the Writing of Speculative Fiction, and presented five rules for the aspiring writer.  I think this story must illustrate the last two: “4.  You must put it on the market.  5.  You must keep it on the market until sold.” I suspect Heinlein intended this one for the slicks, and when none of them would have it, started down the ranks of the SF mags until it finally came to rest in Amazing, which, compounding the indignity, managed to lose his customary middle initial.  Two stars.

The Builder, by Philip K. Dick


by Ed Emshwiller

Philip K. Dick’s The Builder (Amazing, December 1953/January 1954) is from his early Prolific Period—he published 31 stories in the SF magazines in 1953 and 28 in 1954, handily beating Winston K. Marks’s peak.  How?  With a certain number of tossed-off ephemerae like this one, in which an ordinary guy is obsessed for no reason he can articulate with building a giant boat in his backyard.  A rather peculiar boat too, with no sails or motor or oars.  And then: “It was not until the first great black drops of rain began to splash about him that he understood.” That’s it.  Two stars for this shaggy-God story which is unfortunately not shaggy enough.

Summing Up

Well, that was pretty dreary.  The issue’s only distinction is the unexpected readability of Herbert’s novel, which is the best, or least bad, of the serials this publisher has run.  The most one can say about the reprint policy is that it has its ups and downs, and this issue is definitely the latter.

[Come join us at Portal 55, Galactic Journey's real-time lounge! Talk about your favorite SFF, chat with the Traveler and co., relax, sit a spell…]




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[May 2, 1967] The Call of Duty (June 1967 IF)

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by David Levinson

[L]et us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.
– Abraham Lincoln, Address to the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society

A duty to a higher power

On April 28th, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (whom many papers insist on calling by his former name, Cassius Clay) refused induction into the United States Army. In a matter of hours, the New York State Athletic Commission revoked his boxing license, and the World Boxing Association stripped him of his title. For those paying attention, Ali’s refusal came as no surprise. He had been classified as 1-Y (fit for service only in times of national emergency) due to his poor performance on the qualifying test, but when the army lowered its standards last year, he became subject to reclassification as 1-A. The draft board in Louisville Kentucky did so, and he appealed, seeking exemption as a Muslim minister (often incorrectly reported as conscientious objector status). The board denied the appeal in January, and Ali vowed to go to court. After moving to Houston, Texas, the champ again sought reclassification and was again denied.

Muhammad Ali is escorted from the induction center in Houston, Texas.

When called up, Ali appeared as ordered at the Houston induction center and participated in all the pre-induction activities. But when called to step forward for induction, he refused. He was taken aside and the consequences were explained, but he once again refused. After that, he signed a statement indicating his refusal and was escorted outside. He didn’t address the reporters and television cameras waiting for him, but handed out copies of a four-page statement indicating that he is aware of the penalties he faces, but that accepting induction is inconsistent with his “consciousness as a Muslim minister and [his] own personal convictions.” The case has been referred to the U. S. Attorney. If convicted, Mr. Ali faces a maximum of 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

A sense of duty

Like Muhammad Ali, almost everyone in this month’s IF is motivated by strong beliefs: their duty to king and country, humanity at large, or their own personal beliefs and obligations.

Uncle Martin and Tim (from My Favorite Martian) seem to have had a falling out. Actually, this is supposedly from Spaceman!
Art by Wenzel.

Wizard’s World, by Andre Norton

Hunted for being an Esper, Craike decides death is preferable to capture and hurls himself from a cliff. And finds himself in another world, one where people like him are seen as wizards who maintain order for the feudal lords and will not tolerate unregulated Espers. He soon falls afoul of these Black Hoods by rescuing an attractive young woman who was being punished for being outside of the established system.

Takya and Craike set a trap for the Black Hoods. Art by Gray Morrow

We’ve all read this story a hundred times. Man from our world or one reasonably close finds himself mysteriously transported to another world, where he uses his knowledge and different way of thinking to upset the bad social order and get the girl. From John Carter to Lord Kalvan, the template has few variations. Norton’s typical strong writing lifts this above the usual fare, but she offers us nothing new. And there are bits that bother me. For all her power and maturity, Takya is clearly meant to be a young teen, who spends the whole story clad only in her hair. Then at the end, the wooing she expects from Craike borders on rape, however consensual it may be.

Three stars, strictly for being well-written.

Berserker’s Prey, by Fred Saberhagen

Gilberto Klee was working on a youth farm when he was captured in a berserker raid. Now aboard a human ship converted to berserker use, he meets other prisoners, one of whom is sure he can fly the ship if only they can destroy the berserker brain piloting it. Because human captives are suffering from dietary deficiencies, the berserkers order Gil to grow something to end the problem. He suggests a fast-growing squash, though the others disdain him for aiding their captors. Is Gil trying to be viewed as “goodlife” or is there something else going on?

As fellow Journey writer Victoria Silverwolf recently noted, Saberhagen is able to return to this setting over and over again without repeating himself. Perhaps that’s because most of these stories, like this one, tend to be character pieces with the action secondary to the plot. The tight focus on Gil’s internal thoughts without giving away the ending is extremely well done. The ending is also quite symbolic for the overall struggle against the great killing machines.

A very high three stars.

All True Believers, by Howard L. Morris

Not quite two years after thwarting the invasion of Briden by the Freunch under Naflon (see Not by Sea), Sir Hubert Wulf-Leigh (Wilfly) stumbles upon a new Freunch plot: a simultaneous rising in Cullenland and a landing by the Pantlerist pretender in Celtland. Once again, his brilliant mind – aided by a regrettable lack of wine – is up to the challenge.

A strand-gleaner makes an important discovery. Art by Virgil Finlay

The previous story by this author, though readable, was a little too long and tried much too hard to be funny. Morris has largely corrected those problems, though he’s stuck with the ridiculous place names. This piece is clearly based on British fears during the Napoleonic Wars of an Irish rebellion and an attempt by the Stewart pretender to claim the throne and is really no more plausible here than it was in reality. Also the Finlay art seems to be repurposed from Treasure Island or something and doesn’t fit at all. Still, it's all an improvement.

Three stars.

The N3F and Others, by Lin Carter

After looking at a number of less successful attempts at creating national fan clubs last month, Carter looks first at the strange story of the Cosmic Circle and then the more successful National Fantasy Fan Federation. The N3F has lasted a quarter century at this point, but Carter seems ambivalent. In his opinion, it and its extensive membership list offer a reasonable first step and a way to meet fans near you and around the country, but he feels that the organization doesn’t really do anything in fandom. Nevertheless, it seems to be a good introduction for those without a local club in their vicinity.

Three stars.

The Castaways, by Jack B. Lawson

A handful of people are on their way to Smith’s World in suspended animation aboard an automated spaceship when an unexpected nova sends the ship off course. They’re able to find a habitable world, but it’s one without any other people. Can the end products of 6,000 years of civilization survive in a primitive setting?

While the writing is strong on a line-by-line basis, the story itself is so bleak and pessimistic I can’t bring myself to like it.

A very well-written two stars.

Spaceman! (Part 2 of 3), by Keith Laumer

Seeking shelter from a blizzard, Billy Danger accidentally stowed away on a spaceship, ultimately finding himself marooned with the beautiful Lady Raire and a collie-sized cat named Eureka. Raire was taken away by strange, dwarfish aliens, and Billy had to wait for rescue. Billy then spends a few years working his way up the ladder to Chief Power Engineer and also working his way towards Raire’s home planet near the galactic core. He learns that the aliens who took Raire are known as the H’eeaq. After several (mis)adventures, he finds himself in possession of a stolen spaceship and the assistance of a H’eeaq named Srat.

They begin scouring the scattered worlds of the Galactic Zenith, looking for those who took Raire. On the verge of giving up, he finds Raire enslaved and buys both her and another human. Staggering drunkenly back to his ship after finalizing his purchases, Billy watches as the ship takes off with Raire aboard and then finds himself arrested for illegally manumitting a slave. When he wakes up, he discovers that he has been implanted with a control device. Billy is now a slave. To be concluded.

Billy meets Srat for the first time. Poor Srat. Art by Castellon

This installment reminded me a lot of Earthblood, especially the protagonist rising through the ranks as he travels and moves ever closer to a seemingly impossible goal. While Rosel George Brown’s steadying influence there gave us moments of introspection, Laumer alone is free to indulge in wild adventure and action. He also has a tendency to rely too much on coincidence to move the plot along. It’s still an enjoyable read, though.

Three stars.

Family Loyalty, by Stan Elliott

A series of letters between Joe Seaworthy, who is emigrating off-world, and his cousin and former employee Harry Aimes, who senses a chance to get himself out of a bind.

Here is this month’s new author. The first letter feels very unnatural, although there are reasons for that. Things improve after that, and Elliott does a pretty good job of telling us a lot about the world without direct exposition.

A low three stars.

Driftglass, by Samuel R. Delany

Cal Svenson is an amphiman, someone who has been surgically altered so that they can live and breathe underwater. Eighteen years ago, he was severely injured while trying to lay a power cable in an oceanic trench known as the Slash. Unable to work due to a paralyzed leg and torn swim membranes, he has a pension and a house on the Brazilian coast provided by the company he worked for. He spends his days searching for driftglass (also called sea glass) and chatting with his friend Juao, a local fisherman. Encountering a young amphiman woman, Cal learns that the company is planning to try laying a cable in the Slash again the next day. Juao’s two children, Cal’s godchildren, have been accepted into the amphiman program and must leave for Brasilia the next day as well. Cal has to sort out his feelings about both of these things and their consequences.

Cal is injured. Art by Gaughan

Simple. Beautiful. Subtle. Delany writes with a maturity far beyond his 25 years. This story alone is worth your 50¢.

Five stars.

An example of some sea glass

Summing up

That’s another month in the books. Mostly fair to middlin’, but two of the shorter works stand out. The Saberhagen is very good, even if it doesn’t quite deserve a fourth star, and Driftglass is amazing. I expect to see it on all the awards lists. I’m nominating it for a Galactic Star right now, with not even half the year gone.

This is presumably the Riverworld story promised for Worlds of Tomorrow. The lack of other information suggests that Fred is scrambling to deal with the loss of a magazine.




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[April 16, 1967] The Generation Gap (May 1967 Fantastic)

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by Victoria Silverwolf

Youth is Wasted on the Young

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
— attributed to Socrates

It's no secret that young people are rejecting many of the opinions of their elders these days. That's always been true to some extent, of course. However, with the hippie culture, the civil rights movement, and antiwar protests, all of which mostly involve young adults, the gap between the generations seems wider than ever.

In particular, once heavy bombing of North Vietnam began a couple of years ago (Operation Rolling Thunder, still going on intermittently), college students, led by such organizations as Students for a Democratic Society, started demonstrating against the war. On April 17, 1965, somewhere between fifteen thousand and twenty-five thousand people showed up at the nation's capital, in the largest protest to date.


SDS members and others during the March on Washington, almost exactly two years ago.

There have been many other protests since then, both in the United States and other nations. I don't mean to imply that these demonstrations consist entirely of young people, but they do seem to make up the majority of peace activists.

Just yesterday, thousands appeared at massive protests against the conflict in Vietnam in major cities across the United States. In New York City, well over one hundred young men burned their draft cards, followed by a speech by civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., at the United Nations.


The crowd fills Kazar stadium in San Francisco.

What does the parallel escalation of America's involvement in the war and the rejection of it by many young adults and their elders mean for the immediate future of the United States?  It's hard to say, but things look dark.  Just as the struggle for civil rights sometimes looks like a second Civil War, complete with bloodshed, the battle between Hawks and Doves threatens to tear the country apart along political lines.  Let's hope the nation is never as divided as it seems to be now.

Music to Argue With Your Parents or Children By

The tension between generations shows up in popular culture as well. A fine example of this happened recently. From late March until the middle of April, a cheerful little tune from the young folks who call themselves The Turtles was at the top of the American music charts. Happy Together is a great favorite of teenagers, I believe.


I like the part near the end, when the frequently repeated title changes to How is the weather.

Mom and Dad are likely to prefer the song that replaced it as Number One this week. Veteran crooner Frank Sinatra, assisted by daughter Nancy, currently has the nation's biggest hit with the much more traditional number Somethin' Stupid.


I'll refrain from commenting on the propriety of having father and daughter sing a love song together.

Catch a Wave

Not even speculative fiction escapes the conflict between generations. The so-called New Wave movement within the field, primarily in the United Kingdom, offers experimental, controversial, and sometimes incomprehensible stories to readers. The latest issue of Fantastic, a magazine which has been rather stodgy since it went to a policy of containing mostly reprints, mixes a bit of New Wave with plenty of Old Wave stuff.


Cover art by Malcolm Smith.

As usual, the cover reprints art from an old magazine. In this case, it's from the back cover of the July 1943 issue of Fantastic Adventures.


The original looks a lot better.

The Ant with the Human Soul (Part One of Two), by Bob Olsen


Cover art by Leo Morey.

The whole of this Old Wave, pre-Campbell novella appeared in full in the Spring-Summer 1932 issue of Amazing Stories Quarterly. I guess Fantastic didn't want to devote most of the magazine to it.


Illustrations by Morey also.

The narrator tries to kill himself by jumping into the ocean, but a scientist rescues him. The scientist suggests a bizarre scheme. He has a gizmo that can increase or decrease the size of anything, even living creatures. He combines that with neurosurgery in order to perform a weird experiment.

First, he'll increase an ant to the size of a human being. After that, he'll put a part of the narrator's brain into the ant's head. When he shrinks the ant back down to normal size, the narrator will experience everything the ant does, and will be able to control the ant's actions. In essence, he will become the ant.

After the strange transformation takes place, the narrator takes us on a guided tour of life in an ant colony. This first part ends with a cliffhanger, promising the reader that a violent event is about to occur.


Mad Science!

This is an odd story, not only because of the outrageous premise. The mood varies wildly. Some sections deal with the narrator's loss of religious faith, which drove him to attempt suicide. Others are very lighthearted, with playful banter between the two characters. The best part of it is the description of life as an ant, which is depicted in vivid, accurate detail.

Three stars, mostly for taking me into the ant colony.

The Thinking Seat, by Peter Tate


Cover art by Keith Roberts, better known to me as a writer.

The magazine calls this a new novelette, which is a half-truth. It's new to American readers, but it appeared in the November 1966 issue of the British publication New Worlds. My esteemed colleague Mark Yon reviewed it at that time, but let's take another look.


Illustration by Gray Morrow, which is the only truly new thing in the magazine.

The setting is the seacoast of California in the near future. The rugged shore has been replaced with artificial beaches of a tamer nature. The water is warmer, due to the discharge from a nuclear power plant. (I also got the impression that it made the water thicker, almost gelatinous, but I may be wrong about that. This New Wave story isn't always clear.)

A man and a woman with a strange relationship show up at a beatnik colony. She'd like to be more intimate with the fellow, but he doesn't seem interested. Instead, he becomes fascinated by a charismatic poet, who openly announces that he's going to take the woman away from the other man. Things come to a climax during an attempt to sabotage the nuclear power plant, as a way of protesting what it's done to the coast.

I have probably greatly simplified and distorted the plot, because this isn't the easiest story to understand. The narrative often stops to offer examples of obscure poetry, which adds more ambiguity. (Apparently the poet steals phrases from the Beat poets, but I don't know enough about their work to confirm that.)

I got the impression that this example of the Eternal Triangle, which ends badly, was really a case of repressed homosexuality. That's a theme you won't find in most Old Wave science fiction, to be sure. The whole thing works better as a study of the psychology of the three main characters rather than as science fiction.

Three stars, mostly for keeping me wondering about things.

A Way of Thinking, by Theodore Sturgeon


Cover art by Art Sussman.

The October-November 1953 issue of Amazing Stories supplies this supernatural chiller from the pen of one of the field's greatest stylists.


Illustration by Ernest Schroeder.

The narrator is a writer of science fiction and fantasy, who even mentions his work appearing in Amazing, so I assume it's a fictional version of the author. He tells us about an acquaintance who reacts to problems in unusual ways, often by thinking about things backwards. The fellow's brother is dying a slow, horrible death. The suggestion arises that it might have something to do a doll owned by the dying man's vengeful ex-girlfriend. The brother deals with the situation in his usual unorthodox manner.

This synopsis makes the story sound like a typical tale of voodoo, but that's misleading. I don't want to give too much away, but the plot goes in unexpected directions, and the climax is truly disturbing. Of course, given the author, it's very well written. It's not his most ambitious work, to be sure, but it succeeds as a horror story.

Three stars, mostly for the shocking conclusion.

The Pin, by Robert Bloch


Cover art by Mel Hunter.

From the December-January 1953-1954 issue of Amazing Stories comes another tale of terror.


Illustration by Lee Teaford.

An artist looking for a cheap studio comes across an abandoned loft. It's supposed to be empty, but there's a guy inside, surrounded by a huge pile of telephone books, directories, and so forth. The fellow stabs at random names in the books with a pin.

You may have already figured out that the pin causes the death of those whose names are selected. (The premise reminds me of Ray Bradbury's 1943 story The Scythe, as well as the 1958 movie I Bury the Living.) There aren't a lot of surprises in the plot, but it's an effective little thriller.

Three stars, mostly for creating an eerie mood.

Cold Green Eye, by Jack Williamson


Cover art by Richard Powers.

The March-April 1953 issue of the magazine offers yet another spooky tale. In its original appearance, it was called The Cold Green Eye. Don't ask me why they left out the first word.


Illustration by Ernie Barth.

The child of a pair of daring explorers is raised by Buddhist monks after his parents die in a mountaineering accident. He's adopted by an aunt back in the United States. She's a harsh disciplinarian, punishing the boy for what she thinks of as his heathenish ways. In particular, she hates flies and kills them whenever she can, while the child believes in reincarnation and that all living creatures should be protected. Things get strange when the kid uses the sacred scroll he has in his possession.

There's a good chance you'll see the ending coming, although it still raises goose bumps. What's more surprising is that the cruel aunt is a devout Christian, in contrast to the boy's gentle Buddhism. I didn't expect that from an American horror story from more than a decade ago. Maybe the author just thought it made for a good story, and wasn't really trying to say anything about the two faiths.

Three stars, mostly for aunt's comeuppance.

Hok Draws the Bow, by Manly Wade Wellman


Cover art by C. L. Hartman.

Here's a sequel to a story that was reprinted in the previous issue of Fantastic. It comes from the May 1940 issue of Amazing Stories.


Illustrations by Robert Fuqua.

Once again our hero is Hok, a Homo sapiens fighting a war of extermination against sinister, cannibalistic Neanderthals. (It's best to forget about this story's version of prehistory and just think of it as a sword-and-sorcery yarn.) A fellow shows up bragging about his ability to project a spear farther than anybody else. That's because he's got a leather strap that he winds around it, sending it spinning.

The boastful man also has plan to take over Hok's clan, and he's particularly interested in Hok's pretty mate. He's made himself a god-like ruler over the Neanderthals, even teaching them basic military tactics. It looks like Hok's people will be wiped out, but our hero combines the man's strap and a throwing stick used by the Neanderthals to create a secret weapon.


That doesn't keep him from being captured. Fortunately, his mate has a throwing arm Sandy Koufax might envy.

The title and the opening illustration give away the fact that this story is about Hok inventing the bow and arrow. Other than that, it's an efficient adventure story.

Three stars, mostly for keeping things moving quickly.

Beside Still Waters, by Robert Sheckley


Illustration by Virgil Finlay.

The same issue as the Sturgeon story is the source of this tale. A spaceman lives on an asteroid, turning rock into soil that can grow crops and extracting oxygen from minerals. His only companion is a robot. The machine starts off only able to speak a few phrases, but over time the man teaches it to converse more fully. The story ends with a scene that tries to touch the reader's emotions.

The fact that the man can live on the surface of an asteroid unprotected, even if he somehow produces oxygen and food, is ludicrous. (Not to mention the fact that the asteroid's tiny gravity is going to send the oxygen out into space quickly.) The ending takes the plot into pure fantasy. An author best known for his wit tries to be sentimental here, and the result is bathetic.

Two stars, mostly for the excellent illustration.

Bridging the Gap

That was mostly a middle-of-the-road issue, coming to a sudden halt at the end. Maybe there's something to be said for mediocrity. If nothing else, both young and old can agree that the Old Wave and the New Wave have their ups and downs.


The late President Kennedy closes the generation gap.



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